XSEED Has Guts. Large Guts.

I’m not much into the habit of reporting news here, feeling that no one is going to visit a blog out in the middle of nowhere instead of sites that specialize in reporting news (and spins them for free hits *cough*Kotaku*cough*). But today, there was some that was too good to be true from XSEED. They announced that they’re localizing six, six games from Nihon Falcom Corporation for PSP. Utterly nuts, but it’s likely the best news fans of the company, and niche gaming in general, in America have heard in a while.

Falcom, in case you’re unfamiliar with their style, typically releases games on PC these days, and then ports them to specific consoles. All of the games they announced today could be described as that, except for one. A while ago, Falcom expressed interest in getting their PSP titles localized for western markets. Following that, a few clever sleuths discovered that XSEED suddenly appeared as a client on Falcom’s website. Then, XSEED began giving clues (some esoteric, some seriously not) about which titles they planned on localizing through their Facebook page, their Twitter, and Siliconera. Today, they finally decided to, uh, blow their load, so to speak.

The first game out of the gate will be Ys SEVEN, the newest game in the franchise, and the only game they’re releasing that wasn’t released on PC first. It released in Japan in September of last year. Unlike the previous games, this one is completely in 3D; and I hear that it’s also very good. Also, of the three, this one was the most viable candidate for localization. It releases in late-summer 2010, so look forward to it. And hopefully it doesn’t release near Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, which also releases around that time.

Also announced was the recently released (on April 22nd in Japan) Ys: The Oath in Felghana, a PSP port of the critically acclaimed (you know, by fans) PC game. Though you wouldn’t know it from its name unless you’ve played the original (which actually was previously released in America on SNES, Genesis, and Turbografx-16), this is a remake of Ys III. This will be the second game to release, arriving at the end of the year.

Next is Ys I & II Chronicles, another remake of Ys I & II, which released in Japan last July. Unlike Legacy of Ys: Books I & II, localize for release on the DS last year by Atlus, these remakes were done in house at Falcom instead of being outsourced to another company. Apparently the DS versions were pretty bad remakes too, so this will be the one to look forward to playing. It releases early next year.

Lastly, they’re localizing The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky trilogy (aka the Sora no Kiseki trilogy). These are definitely the oldest of the bunch, with the First Chapter releasing in Japan back in September. Of 2006. I’m kind of bummed that they’re calling it The Legend of Heroes, given who Bandai already ravaged that name with their reprehensible “localizations” of the Gagharv trilogy. XSEED plans to begin releasing these in 2011, and hopefully the first game will sell well enough for them to localize the second and third games. The last thing anyone wants are Shining Force III flashbacks.

So, uh, here’s hoping the PSP lasts long enough so these games can be successful. It should get a boost starting next month with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and Kingdom Hearts: BBS and God of War: Ghost of Sparta should help as well later in the future. But the question is how big they will be. Hopefully this pays off for XSEED, and their relationship with Falcom won’t be similar to the Marvelous Entertainment kerfuffle.

P.S. I’m personally kind of bummed that Brandish: The Dark Revenant isn’t one of the games they’re localizing. But I have to be thankful that someone is taking a chance on localizing these games at all. Good luck, XSEED.